Everyone expected that by now, the House, Senate, and White House would have resolved their differences and enacted the comprehensive housing and mortgage relief package that has been working its way through Congress. But then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which play a major role in the legislation’s blueprint for resolving housing’s problems, encountered some problems of their own. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson declared that the pair are “in no danger of failing,” and that kind of attention from the Treasury Secretary is never a good sign.

Responding to the collapse in Fannie and Freddie’s stock prices, Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke revealed a plan that would increase the pairs’ credit lines at the Treasury, grant them access to the Fed’s discount window, allow the government to buy their stock, and increase the Fed’s role in supervising the institutions. The legislation necessary to implement the plan is to be loaded onto the already wide-ranging housing bill, and the whole package is expected to clear Congress and be signed by the President within a week.

That would be startling speed, at least in comparison with the pace at which the Congress has done anything else lately. However, the members are suddenly united in a perception of an imminent crisis that could further undermine public confidence.

That’s not to say there are no sticking points. Right now, one of the major ones is the law setting the federal government’s borrowing limit. If the new Fannie/Freddie package were to be used, it would presumably require an increase in the federal debt limit — or legislation exempting advances to the housing giants from that limit.

Or there’s another option. Congress could adopt the housing bill with the Fannie/Freddie provisions, but not raise the debt ceiling in the hope the new borrowing authorizations would not actually be used. That seems to be the path Congress is leaning toward at the moment.